Bench leg levelers

[jghm]

My new SB 9A project is coming along. It was time to set the bench in place on my uneven garage floor. The bench is as old as the lathe (1946) but is solid. Digging through the scrap bin came up with some Unistrut hardware. The 9/16 rod threaded into the wood legs tight after drilling a 9/16 hole. The extra nut and washer is to lock it up just in case it would ever try to turn in the wood.
John

View attachment 102079

 

[HMF]

Those legs look nice and sturdy. I like to move things around my shop - I have to actually because it is so tight. So I use some Carrymaster casters on the actual machine cabinet bases. Works well, but costly. Your method works and is a lot easier on the wallet.

Best,


Nelson

 

[jghm]

I think you both hit it right on, "cheap". I figure hobby-machinists aren't making much money on what were doing, so the more we can scrounge and make for cheap or nothing leaves us more to spend on things we can't make like tooling and such. It's all part of the hobby! ;D
John

 

[Starlight Tools]

Best Bench levelers I have found are hockey pucks.

These chunks of rubber are about 91 Durometer on the Shore A scale so they do not have much give.

Before I installed them on the workbench it used to slide on the concrete floor whenever I was pushing on the bench the wrong way. With the hockey pucks under there, no more movement, no matter how hard I wail on something. The 9x28 Logan lathe I could drag across the concrete floor no problem, after putting on hockey pucks, needed help to lift and move around as it almost felt like it was suction cupped to the floor.

Pucks are 3" diameter and distrubute the weight really well.

To make the parts needed:

Drill through 1/2" diameter and counterbore 1-1/8" diam x 3/8" deep.
Cut a washer from 1/4" plate. I use a 3-1/4" diameter holesaw, then drill the pilot hole out to 1/2", mount on a mandrel and clean up the outside on the lathe.

To Assemble:

Take 1/2" carriage bolt about 3" long, hockey puck, 1/4" plate washer, regular flat washer, split lock washer and nut. Tighten. use one or two more nuts as jacks and locks as needed.

If I need to move the machines or tool boxes around then I use the Footmaster Castors. They have a built in levelling foot and a machine can be positioned and levelled very quickly with them. Footmaster is the company that made the first levelling castor and are manufactured in Korea, there have been a few companies that have copied them as the patents have expired, or just plain pirated the idea.

http://www.footmastercasters.com/

Walter

 

[jghm]

Great idea Walter! Perfect bottom to my levelers. The nuts are a bit slippery on smooth concrete and I was wondering what I should put them on.
John

 

[Starlight Tools]

Hockey pucks are 97 cents each at the local Walmart, seems that milage may vary in other locations from can't even get them at the local rink to 7.95 from the jewelry supply places.

Stick to the floor like suction cups!

Drill and machine with really sharp drills and cutters. I have never frozen them before cutting, but may improve cutting a bit. Wear off the edge of HSS cutters really quick so be prepared to sharpen lots. Maybe just the cheap pucks have lots of crap, not sure.

Arbor Press shown below is mounted on six hockey puck feet, four under the 3/4" plate lower press foot and one on each of the rear legs. The plate allows me to press long items through the press throat.

For more ideas on what to do with hockey pucks in the workshop also see

http://rick.sparber.org/hpbb.pdf

Walter